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Are Text Message Reminders an Effective Intervention for Improving the Uptake of Breast Screening?

NCT01977599 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 2240

Last updated 2021-04-06

Study results available
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Summary

Breast Cancer is the single most common cancer, and the third leading cause of cancer cancer deaths, in the United Kingdom. Breast screening is able to detect breast cancer in the early stages of development, during which time it is more easily treatable. Unfortunately, many patients do not attend screening, and surveys issued to these women consistently report "forgetfulness" as the primary reason for missing the appointment. Both telephone reminders and postal reminders have been shown to reduce non-attendance, however, these are time consuming and expensive.

Mobile telephones are becoming an increasingly popular tool for communication between healthcare professionals and patients, one which might offer an inexpensive solution for delivering reminders. Text message reminders have been able to prevent missed appointments in other areas of healthcare, and the same might be true for breast screening.

The investigators are conducting a trial to confirm whether this is the case or not.

In this trial, the investigators will send some women a text message to reminder them of their appointment, and other women no reminder for their appointment. The investigators will then compare the number of women in each group that went to their breast screening appointment.

Conditions

  • Breast Screening

Interventions

OTHER

Text Message Reminder for Breast Screening Appointment

Non-clinical/administrative.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Ellis Friedman, FFPH · London Borough of Sutton

  • Heema Shukla, PhD · Public Health England

  • Deborah Cunningham, MBBS · Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

  • Robert S Kerrison, BSc · Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
47 Years
Max Age
53 Years
Sex
FEMALE
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2012-11-30
Primary Completion
2013-11-30
Completion
2013-11-30

Countries

  • United Kingdom

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01977599 on ClinicalTrials.gov